Capture of the Royal African Pearl

The Capture of the Royal African Pearl occurred on 23 November 1718 when the pirates Edward Kenway and Charles Vane captured the Royal African Company slave ship Royal African Pearl off the coast of Cabo de Cruz, Cuba. The two pirates, sailing aboard the Jackdaw and Ranger, respectively, tracked down the ship while searching for the Royal African Company slave ship Princess, which carried "the Sage", Bartholomew Roberts. The pirates assaulted the heavily-armed frigate off Cuba, and the Royal African Pearl heavily damaged the Ranger, whose mast collapsed. The crew of the Ranger was welcomed aboard the Jackdaw, which proceeded to incapacitate and board the Royal African Pearl. The pirates succeeded in defeating the Spanish-uniformed crew, and Captain Morgan Treglone revealed that the Princess left Kingston, Jamaica every few months before Vane shot him dead. The ship was left to its original owners, as the pirates had no need for its human cargo, but the celebrations were short; the pirate Jack Rackham and the former crew of the Ranger mutinied against Kenway and Vane and left them stranded on the incapacitated Ranger as Rackham sailed away as the new (short-lived) captain of the Jackdaw. After four months, Kenway would return to command the Jackdaw after surviving being marooned on Isla Providencia.